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<div class="chapter" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div>
<div><h2 class="title">
<a name="gtk-migrating-GtkAction"></a>Migrating from old menu and toolbar systems to GtkAction</h2></div>
<div><div class="author">
<h3 class="author">
<span class="firstname">Federico</span> <span class="surname">Mena-Quintero</span>
</h3>
<div class="affiliation"><div class="address"><p><br>
	  <code class="email">&lt;<a class="email" href="mailto:federicoximian.com">federico<em class="parameter"><code>ximian.com</code></em></a>&gt;</code><br>
	</p></div></div>
</div></div>
</div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="gtk-migrating-GtkAction.html#actions-and-action-groups">Actions and Action Groups</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="ui-manager.html">User Interface Manager Object</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="migrating-gnomeuiinfo.html">Migrating from GnomeUIInfo</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
    Prior to GTK+ 2.4, there were several APIs in use to create menus
    and toolbars.  GTK+ itself included <a class="link" href="GtkItemFactory.html" title="GtkItemFactory"><span class="type">GtkItemFactory</span></a>, which was
    historically used in the GIMP; libgnomeui provided the gnome-ui
    set of macros; libbonoboui provided a complex mechanism to do menu
    merging across embedded components.  GTK+ 2.4 includes a system
    for creating menus and toolbars, with merging of items, based
    around the <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> mechanism.
  </p>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="actions-and-action-groups"></a>Actions and Action Groups</h2></div></div></div>
<p>
      A <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> represents an operation that the user can perform from 
      the menus and toolbars of an application.  It is similar to "verbs" 
      in other menu systems.  A <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> has a name, which is its identifier, 
      and it can have several widgets that represent it in the user interface.  
      For example, an action for <span class="symbol">EditCopy</span> can have a menu item 
      as well as a toolbar button associated to it.  If there is nothing selected
      in the document, the application can simply de-sensitize the
      <span class="symbol">EditCopy</span> action; this will cause both the menu
      item and the toolbar button to be de-sensitized automatically.
      Similarly, whenever the user selects the menu item or the
      toolbar button associated to the <span class="symbol">EditCopy</span>
      action, the corresponding <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> object will emit an
      "activate" signal.
    </p>
<p>
      <a class="link" href="GtkActionGroup.html" title="GtkActionGroup"><span class="type">GtkActionGroup</span></a> is simply a group of <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> objects.  An
      application may want to have several groups:  one for global
      actions such as "new document", "about", and "exit"; then one
      group for each open document with actions specific to the
      document, such as "cut", "copy", "paste", and "print".
    </p>
<p>
      Normal actions are simply commands, such as
      <span class="symbol">FileSave</span> or <span class="symbol">EditCopy</span>.  
      Toggle actions can be active or inactive, such as
      <span class="symbol">FormatBold</span> or <span class="symbol">ViewShowRulers</span>.
      Radio actions define a set of items for which one and only one
      can be active at a time, for example, {
      <span class="symbol">ViewHighQuality</span>,
      <span class="symbol">ViewNormalQuality</span>,
      <span class="symbol">ViewLowQuality</span> }.
    </p>
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